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These parameters apply only to selected objects that are Sfumato objects. Sfumato objects are used for the creation of photo-like embroidery designs. They are often used to create portraits, landscapes, or still-life designs. A Sfumato object is drawn exactly like a Fill object, but the stitches inside the object are generated in a different way. The thread creates meanders of various sizes to mimic the picture (photo) under the object.
This page provides a comprehensive overview of the Sfumato object parameters in Embird Studio NEXT, a tool designed for creating photo-realistic embroidery. It explains how Sfumato objects utilize meanders of varying sizes and densities to replicate images. The page details the parameters available across multiple tabs, including settings for color handling with automatic and user-defined thread shades, the use of color masks for selective stitching, adjustable density for low, medium, and high detail areas, and the option to add carving lines to emphasize edges. Additionally, it describes different working modes within the parameter panel to facilitate color picking and previewing shade layouts.
Left: design composed of 6 Sfumato vector (outline) objects. Center: finished design filled with stitches. Right: meanders of different shade and density - detail.
Meanders are replaced with a plain fill of a given angle in the highest density areas. Sfumato does not cover the entire area of the object with stitches; instead, it allows the fabric to show through the stitches in looser areas. Therefore, it is important to choose the Background Color of Sfumato objects properly, because the density of stitches is adjusted according to the Background Color and thread colors.
A Sfumato object is filled with 1-9 shades of thread. Shades are generated automatically from the Basic Color of the Sfumato object or set manually by the user. The user can switch on and off respective shades and thus control the number of colors within a single object. Each color (thread shade) has adjustable parameters Additional Density and Shade Threshold.
It is important to use the appropriate number of shades for each object. Too many shades will result in a lot of jump stitches. Too few shades will not replicate the image accurately enough. In general, it can be said that for small objects, a small number of shades is sufficient, and for large objects, more shades should be used. For regular sfumato objects, it is recommended to use 2 to 6 shades.
A Sfumato object can have openings like the Fill object. Use the opening tool to add openings to a Sfumato object. Also, a Sfumato object can have carvings. Unlike the Fill object, carvings on Sfumato are formed by additional stitches and not by a needle point pattern. The user can adjust the width and color of carvings. Carving objects must follow immediately after the Sfumato object and its openings.
The parameters of a Sfumato object are organized into several tabs in the parameter panel.
The combo box at the top of the Sfumato parameters panel allows you to switch between these working modes:
A Sfumato object has many more parameters than other types of objects. It would be very cumbersome to change parameters and then generate stitches to check their effect. Therefore, preview modes are available directly in the parameter panel to make working with Sfumato objects faster.
Another handy mode is the pick color mode. As the stitches in Sfumato objects are generated from a photo, it is useful to bring colors from the photo directly to various Sfumato parameters.
The above modes are useful when accessing parameters via the main control panel during node editing in the work area, because all these modes interact with the work area. Pick color mode allows you to pick a color from a picture in the work area. Shades layout preview mode renders the respective preview directly in the work area.
Angle defines the angle of plain fills in high-density areas.
Maximum stitch length is the longest running stitch in low-density areas. Longer stitches are replaced with jumps. Long running stitches may not look good if they pass through eyes, mouths, or other important parts of the design. However, too many jumps complicate the sewing process.
The Fidelity parameter affects the stitch count and accuracy of the Sfumato object. Higher Fidelity means a higher stitch count and better accuracy. To reduce the stitch count and speed up the sewing process, use lower fidelity (0-40%) on objects like the background, clothes, sky, etc. Higher fidelity (70-80%) is recommended for faces and other areas where accuracy is more important than the stitch count.
The Style of low-density areas defines the stitch style or layout of loose stitches. Use it to give the object the desired texture.
The styles from top to bottom are:
The first option, Meanders, produces a stitch layout similar to the previous Sfumato version but with fewer trims and stray stitches.
The default style is Contour stitches (2), which produces the most efficient stitch layout. The stitches do not follow the contour in all places. Where not applicable, meanders (1) are used automatically.
Higher and Highest density options allow you to achieve more compact coverage. This means that the fabric shows through the stitches less than with other options.
This tab contains color controls and controls closely related to those colors.
Basic Color. This is the reference color for thread shades generation. It is also used for displaying the Sfumato object in the Object Inspector and in the work area.
Background is the fabric color. This color is supposed to show through the stitches. The density of each thread shade is derived from the Background color.
Thread Shades. The actual colors of threads that fill the Sfumato object are generated automatically from the Basic Color or set manually by the user. Automatic shades form a monochrome scale. User-defined scales may contain any color. Click the shade color box to open the color mixer window. Individual shades can be turned OFF if you wish to use a lower number of colors within the Sfumato object. This is useful for small-size objects.
Additional Density. Sfumato automatically adjusts the density of all parts of the object. However, the user may want to increase or decrease the density of a particular color within the object.
Shade Threshold. Sfumato automatically splits the whole range of color tones within the object into respective number of thread shades. The user can adjust the shade thresholds with these parameters.
Contrast affects the colors of automatically generated threads. When doing a portrait, use lower contrast on a child's or woman's face to achieve softer thread shades.
Some photos may contain many small areas of various colors (flowers on a meadow, for example), and it is hard to trace each of them as a separate Sfumato object. In such cases, use Color Mask to fill only part of the object with stitches:
Make one large Sfumato object.
Select the mask color count.
Pick the respective mask colors from the image in the Work Area using the Pick Color Tool.
Adjust the range of the masks. Use the preview mode to check the layout of masks.
Activate just one mask (green meadow, for example) and adjust the rest of the Sfumato parameters.
Close the parameters window and generate stitches for the sfumato object.
Copy and paste this Sfumato object and change the active mask and color selection so that the rest of the object is stitched (red flowers, for example).
Spacing of stitches is inversely proportional to density of the stitches. Increasing the spacing of the stitches makes the density lower. Decreasing the spacing of the stitches makes the density higher.
Spacing of high-density areas. Set this value according to the weight of thread in order to achieve full coverage in the most dense places, where a plain fill is used instead of loose meanders. Usual plain fill spacing values are 0.35 - 0.45 mm.
Overall spacing of low-density areas. This scroll bar allows the user to make loose areas of the design even looser or heavier.
Overall spacing of medium-density areas. This scroll bar allows the user to make medium-density areas of the design looser or even heavier.
Carvings are lines or curves that are drawn after the Sfumato object. They can be used to emphasize edges in the Sfumato object. The user can adjust two carving parameters:
Carvings Color. Carvings may only be one of the thread shade.
Carvings width. Use this parameter to make carvings thicker. Carvings wider than 0.2 mm are composed of short lines placed at the same angle as the plain fill in the Sfumato object.